Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Tweets Can Be "Sweet" Deals!

Twitter, a real time short messaging service, has become extremely popular not only in the social realm, but the business world as well. As the economy nears what looks like a recession, businesses around the world are scrambling to find cost effective, and productive means of advertising. Twitter, a completely free social medium, could be just that "sweet" bargain companies are seeking.

This easy to use medium limits each instant message to 140 characters - they keep their tweets short and sweet! So how do such sweet tweets pay out for the companies that choose to utilize them? Sarah Milstein argues that there are many ways businesses may choose to use Twitter, in her Twitter know how. She first suggests that organizations use this micro-blog to share ideas about their field or profession. In sequential order steps two through five are: Show respect, Build your brand, Engage customers, and Provide customer service. Such uses, if carried out properly, may amalgamate to create productive results!

Another blog called How to Use Twitter - Tips for Bloggers, provides more insight on creating great tweets. I particularly enjoyed Darren's ( the author ) thoughts on opening multiple twitter accounts for varying uses. He also points out that you should work to use Twitter in an original and useful way. There are millions of tweets constantly being posted on twitter; thus, yours must stand out. That is, you must add value to your tweets and make every tweet count! He states that you are either hurting or improving your image/brand/reputation each and every time you tweet. This is true in all social mediums, as I noted in an earlier post: If you wouldn't put it on a billboard don't write it! Finally, asking your followers questions in your tweets is a great way to get conversation started.

Businesses can and should begin to use Twitter if they have not already. This social medium, like most others, can prove to be quite beneficial. My final thought on Twitter? It is sweet!

4 comments:

Great post Natalie! I really like the philosophy of "If you wouldn't put it on a billboard, don't write." I think that is a good mantra for everyone in the PR realm to remember. I agree with you that asking questions is a great way to get a conversation started, but wasn't sure where these conversations take place...I looked in Darren's post, but couldn't find the answer. Do they take place on Twitter? It would seem likely since that's where the readers are following the story to begin with, but at a 140 word limit, it doesn't seem like a very in-depth conversation could be carried out. Of course, I really don't understand Twitter that well, so I may be way off base! :) Thanks for the links!

I like how you explained that Darren believes that you are either hurting or improving your image/brand/reputation each and every time you tweet. I think that is very true. Depending on the usefulness of your post it can either harm or hurt the company. Like I put in my blog, no one cares about a meeting between a CEO and a secretary, but they would care about a big merger or a big quarterly profit.

That's true! Make every tweet count! You'd probably have to create two different twitter accounts since you may want to 1) use twitter to talk to co-workers and 2) actually use twitter to make your brand stick out in the minds of your audience. You cannot do the latter if they see all the crud mingling with the quality information you may be tring to send out!

Wow Natalie you convinced me that twitter can help businesses! I was a little skeptical but 140 characters is short enough for someone to read and if a business can make their message "stand out" like you wrote, I can see how twitter could help them promote their brand and help with customer relations. Thanks for the insight !